Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Kiss on the Corner

I had kissed other boys before him, but I will always remember this as my first real kiss.

I was invited by my slightly older, slightly wilder friend Hannah to a party on the Upper East Side. Hannah went to another school, and was, during my restless eighth grade year, a personal portkey to a fresh crop of boys. So that Saturday, I negotiated a 1 a.m. curfew and saddled up in my black cocktail dress and fishnet stockings.

As I write this, I suddenly recall the sweet feeling of walking into a crowded party, young and dressed up, self-conscious and self-confident at the same time. I hung onto Hannah's hand and scanned the room, and I noticed him right away--surrounded by an impenetrable phalanx of girls, he was intent on breathing nitrous oxide from a huge blue balloon. Hannah looked in the direction of my gaze, and rolled her eyes. "Christopher," she said succinctly. I couldn't stop staring at him; he seemed to be enclosed in a soft bubble of blond Catholic radiance.

All evening we passed looks and he winked at me, once. I lost myself in ostentatious conversation with another boy, all the while telegraphing, so I hoped, my diffident invitation.

It was Hannah who finally, impatient with the pretense, interceded on my behalf.

"Christopher!" she called to him. "Leah's ready to leave, and you live right around the corner from her. Take her home." and to me, sotto voce, "he's yours!" Hannah was just like that.

Christopher shrugged and put his suede jacket ("buttery olive green," I noted specifically in my diary that night) around my shoulders, and his arm over that, and we left together, and as easy as that, I made my first tiny conquest...

We kissed in the taxi--a real kiss, a soul kiss!--and his mouth held the sharp thrilling taste of whiskey. We kissed all the way home, and then he paid the cabbie and we kissed on my corner one last time, under the street lamp, and parted ways and I never saw him again, although for a week after that, my dress held his scent of soap and liquor and cigarettes, and, very very faintly, his boyish lust...

I quietly entered the house, so pleased with myself, with my victory, as innocent as any killing ever was.

Gosh you were a confident young lady; entering a room of people used to scare me stiff. I enjoyed kisses but then they were hard and firm a la Stewart Granger and Clark Gable.Slobbery wet ones were not very desirable. Fashions change I suppose. I'm sure your soul kiss was heavenly:)

Map--thank you, I hope it was fun to read. And you called me "missus"! I love that.

Savannah--I thought I was the height of sophistication too...actually in retrospect, those cabs made it so much safer for us, I'll bet my mom and dad were glad of them. But the ride from the Upper East Side all the way to Brooklyn was a long one, and it must've been hell of expensive, now that I think of it!

Marianna--thank you--it was sort of (I say sort of) fun to remember.

Otin--it was like a chaste one-night stand!

Baino--what's funny is that I still remember his last name! But better to leave him where he is--in memory only.

Kylie--what a nice compliment! I've been lately remembering and turning things of the past over and over in my mind, aided by my beastly diaries. I was so puerile it hurts.

California Girl--Hannah was awesome, straightforward and mature. A great person to know at that time, she always cut through the bullshit. I recognized it even then, at that tender age. I think she's a lawyer now.

Good job Hannah was around to bring you together or you would both have gone home frustrated and cursing your shyness! I can't remember my first kiss at all - well, it was rather a long time ago. The important thing is that I still love kissing, after zillions of them....

Tell you what annoys me, though, it's the way people in movies always go Mwerr whenever they kiss. The vocal accompaniment is not needed, guys!

Wow! What a great story. Reminded me of a boy and a time ----- oh well best not go there. But, a great memory.

Leah, thanks for the lovely comment on my kissing post. Despite all the spelling and grammar mistakes. I must admit I was quite embarrassed when I signed on today an reread what I had written. I did something I should never do, which is write something when I am just too tired to think.

I have fixed all my mistakes now, and thanks once again for the visit.

Debo--I had exactly the same thought as I was writing it--little conquests are the essential to keep one sharp and happy and alive. The question is, what is each person's little conquest, right? Maybe you'll write about yours!

reyjr--so, I wonder, is it very different for the boy? I'm curious.

Rita--thanks for stopping by here! And I wouldn't worry about any mistakes--they didn't detract!

Roy--hah! It's been aaages since I'd read that, thanks for reminding me...I think it would have been almost disappointing if we'd traded numbers--I was just a very very young girl, and then I might have had to have a reckoning!

Jayne--you are so right, they're not always. First kiss, first sex, can be sort of traumatizing. I was lucky on both counts...

Ahhh... You are such a wonderful writer. Your writing takes me to that party, to that excitement of seeing the object of your affections there, and the thrill of riding home with him in a cab... And that kiss.

Perfect. I've really enjoyed this.

You had BETTER write a nice, trashy romance novel, and give it a nice dark twist. I'll be first in line to buy it. You've got a gift, girl.